


Snuffed Out

by LaughingHollow (sugoi)



Series: The Pale Prince [2]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Emotional Hurt, Grimmchild - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22842187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugoi/pseuds/LaughingHollow
Summary: You both know your being selfish, but you are also a god and gods are always selfish.
Relationships: Brumm/Grimm (Hollow Knight), Grimm & The Knight (Hollow Knight)
Series: The Pale Prince [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601743
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Snuffed Out

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to fleash out the troupe's ambitions a little more solidly, Grimm has a goal and he's in no hurry to achieve it, the question is if he achieves it
> 
> I also wanted to address the whole Brumm betraying the troupe elephant in the tent, and hint at some future conflict.

The infection ceased the moment your sister fell from divinity, you felt it, the desperation and fear that coursed through the radiance as the god of void set upon her.

Her screams resonated throughout the realm, all gods could here it, her plea for help, you were the only god prepared to help her, she was your sister was she not?

In a split second of madness, the Nightmare king starts tearing through the layers of reality, the pounding of the Nightmare heart almost drowns out the guttural growl resonating from your vessel's heartless chest.

And In that moment all your past conflicts with your sister, the bloodshade, the pain of banishment meant little to nothing, there was no right, no wrong, only the warning bells blaring as you felt her light fading.

It was truly a insanity only a sibling would understand.

Shadows fill the room as existence begins splitting, in your irrational spurt, your slow consider the obvious truths set before you.

But you do, and the truth?, it hurts ...

If the Radiance survives so will her insanity, this rogue god is no longer your bright and radiant sibling...they have not been for years...

Going to aid her would only prolong the pain she's chosen to inflect upon the innocent World, all to scorn a god that has long abandoned it to her destruction.

Brumm must have sensed your broken lapse in judgement, for he silently looms at your side, his burly claws lay against your shoulder, there is a tremble, hidden deep within their carapeice, of a bug that had came with knowledge but not regard for how dangerous it was approach a god in the middle of such a state.

Its a comfort no less, no matter what happens the troupe will support you, their endless dance will fuel the fires of the nightmare heart gor eternity even long after your vessel dies and your light snuffed out.

You stiffly dip your head once slightly, a mild but obvious sign of appreciation, as you try and fail to reign in the tremors gripping your then body, the burly bug continues to loom at your side like a loyal shadow.

You push them back gently, and they comply with understanding, stepping back to the corners of the room, supplying you with the space you need to stabilize, you appreciated him, you did, but not even a troupe member could survive the flames of the Nightmare king. Lest you lapsed in Control.

You would never purposely harm one of your troupe members for a such a small indiscretion, even if they fall out of faith from you, no harm will come to those who were too broken to heed the flames call.

Those who choose different paths or faiths will be left for their fate and stripped of their collective divinity the troupe and its endless dance provided, but with the mark of flame seared onto one's mind, a brand of their past loyalties to the nightmare heart, a delusion to fear and it kind, a shield against other god's influences...even your sister's.

You learned the meaning of benevolence from non other then the Radiance herself, she taught you the importance of life, and how it reached far beyond the bounds of reverence, a sacred thing, it was all higher being's duty to protect life.

Joy and despair  
Hate and love  
Fear and pain

They fueled you with the very necessities needed to survive and in turn you were to keep balance in your respective realms, guardians of the defenseless but vibrant life source.

A duty she with all her hypocrisy turned her back on..

You, yourself saw the destruction she caused, leeched off the raw fear of her victims, her creations, her children, she had tortured and slain in a fit of jealousy and anger.

No reason nor rhyme would reach her lest they befell a demons ears, the husk of the devine god and been hollowed out by something more ravenous and insidious then void.

Hatrid, fueled by pain and greed, killing the hollow knight and claiming hollownest as their own would not sate her hunger, when a god indulges in pain such as she, slowly but surly they will become corrupt as she has, the nightmare heart was all to aware of this. 

She would not stop until there was nothing left of the kingdom of hollownest, then she would move on to the next and begin again, that was the beast she had become.

So you made your decision...

It had to end, and if the vessel would act as the remedy to the blight she had become so be it.

Your body quivered, rarely felt regret filling the void as the wave of anger slowly subsided, simmering down to embers within your chest, the Nightmare King's grip on you fading, leaving your mortal body weak and exhausted, ultimately unable to hold yourself upright on your trembling legs, You trust Brumm to break your fall.

he does not disappoint.

Your trusted servant carries you to your bed chambers with seemingly little to effort, while you mentally fume at how weak your vessel is at times, if every time you get pissed off you collapsed like some damsel there was definitely going to be a issue to take up with the nightmare heart.

Planting you on the countless silks and pillows you decorate your resting place with, Brumm moves to the door, and you find your eyes narrowing, as the bug hovers there for a few seconds in silence before they decided what they had to say.

"I will clear your schedule master, I strongly insist you rest for the time being"

Was he trying to coddle you again?  
Does he not realize your a grown bug that can fully function without a nanny?!

"Im fine" you muttered rather petulantly earning you a heavy sigh from your servant.

"My lord if you please, that was quite a display and only but a few moments ago, I'm not sure your body's capable of that kind of stress yet...at least without giving it time to recuperate"

Brumm eyed you dubiously, The musician's tone had a odd sense of finality to it.

A tone you didn't like, and immediately rebutted.

" I will be fine, there are too many important things to attend to!

He was right, and from the way he crossed his arms over his burly throax, he knew you both knew he was, and frankly he was, but you, yourself if anything were stubborn. 

"Trust me, I can still do the show, we gods are much more durable then you think" you give him and a wink to punctuate your point, brumm just stares back like a disapproving parent.

"Fine my lord, let us deal, if you can stand up right now, this instance and dance with me, you may very well keep your schedule...will you accept this challenge master?" 

You feel flush creeping up your neck as you glance down at your quivering legs, you realize that would be an impossible feat, even if you could get up, the nightmare king leeched all the energy and soul from your mortal form upon his departure!

You'd be stumbling around like a newly hatched grub!

The smug smile on Brumm's normally cryptic face makes you want to slap him, but that would be unsightly so you do the next best thing and pretend that you had indeed banished him like you planned to, had the little knight not rejected his offer to vanquish your predecessor.

Your in the middle of silently fumming and ignoring him when Brumm relinquishes the question he's be dancing around since the moment he entered your chambers. 

"Is she vanquished my lord? Has the shadow succeeded?" He dosent look you in the eye, instead fiddles with his accordion nervously, with a jolt you feel translucent strains of fear radiating off the musician, you can easily see the truth in him, he was worried about the ghost.

it pains you to deliver the ill news.

"The old light is no more, The shadow prevails, however i believe this feat demanded their demise as due...even in death let their victory reign supreme" the words fell heavy and slow, simmering with anguish in the quiet room.

Brumm visibly deflates, hope dissipating all the color seeming to drain from his body, and you feel alike as silence befalls the room.

If you had a heart, it would bleed for your troupe, no place was home, one in this line of work simply did not have time to connect to those who would eventually be left behind in life and time.

It was much easier to leave and forget then to cling to the normalcies the nightmare heart could not accommodate, so that was what the troupe embraced.

There one moment, and spirited away the next, only the trace of scarlet smoke and malicious dreams in their wake.

But the little shade had waltzed into the troupe like the smoke that feeds a flame, igniting everything and everyone fortunate enough to be licked by their black flames.

It felt like a privilege to be in their presence, a privilege you shamelessly indulged in as a childish nuisance.

So many lives, so rarely did they witness anomaly, the troupe was bewitched, enamoured by the vessel who held the muted light of a god tainted by darkness.

Sadly all songs come to an end eventually, some more bitter then others...

You were aware of the knight's plight, their purpose as told by the white lady, and had you not been tied to the troupe, to the nightmare heart, you would have fought alongside him, faced with them the god of dreams, tried to reason with her despite her fatally striking you down so many eons ago.

Alas obligations were set in stone and the knight, ghost never faulted you for that, not even as you were forced to leave their side and claim your place as successor of the troupe and the nightmare heart.

Yet even after they left, to fulfil their purpose and put an end to the plague, you lingered.

Prepared to flee, spirit your troupe away at the first sign of danger, but also silently hoping, waiting for your precious friend to return to you, lest you take them with you, no one would question your decision. 

Now you felt nothing.  
No oppressive aura, no infection.  
No draw of nothingness, no shadows.

Everything was silent, both gone, snuffed out of existence in the blink of an eye"

It was all terribly depressing not only for you but it would be a heavy blow the whole troupe felt, a defeat to those who were used to not always winning, but never losing, and most definitely not a loss so great.

Honestly you haven't felt this lost since your predecessor yielded to the consumption of the nightmare flames with the aid of the knight's nail.

Brumm still lingers in the doorway, his mask cast downwards, the dispair rolls off him in suffocating coils, but you can't bring yourself to dismiss him, no you will tolerate his mourning much like he has yours over the years, foe every life, for all your fallen kin.

to be honest, the musician's presence is a comfort in it's own right, despite his previous betrayals against the troupe, apparently it has been a repeated act on his behalf, spanning accross the years, spurned by the fear of losing his leader, an act of rebillion, little did he realize your vessel would have died with or without the knight's interference.

Whatever It was, the issue rectified quickly, Grimm whisked the servant away to their corridors and whatever transpired is still unknown to you.

Not all memories are meant for prying eyes, and even your previous vessels were allowed the luxery to block out or simply ommit memories transfered through the ritual that held no direct value towards the prolonging of the vessel or heart's existence.

And your father had done just that, your certain if the occasion called for it, Brumm like any loyal troupe member would gladly throw themselves in the path of death if only to prolong the nightmare heart's life a little longer, and they were ever the voice of reason, evening out Devine's cold and ruthless nature, resorting to peaceful and tacticle negotiation before resorting to brute force, truly dependable and indispensable.

But sometimes you catch him staring at you and its like they are looking for someone else in your eyes, someone lost to to the ritual long ago, as if maybe there was more to the two's story then you were privy to, a more deeper connection perhaps, many nights you would have scoured his dreams to find the answers, but it seems your father knew what a scoundrel you could be, and you found yourself blocked out of their mind as well..

it wasn't like it was the first aganda of things you did once you ascended.

"Mmmrm, if I may, perhaps they have just yet to reform, if the old light is what you've claimed, perhaps the struggle taxed their will past its breaking point, it has not been unseen especially under these curtains"

Brumm mumbled into the empty silence, though it was clear in his subdued voice that the idea was as farfetched to him as it felt to you.

Your exhausted, drained to the core emotionally and physically, by nature your a narcissist, and it takes all of whats left of your will power to not pluck the wings from that suggestion and watch it flutter to the floor to eventually be crushed by the sole of reality.

But you don't, that would be cruel, instead you focus the last tendrils of energy within you, and once more, one last time you cast out your sixth sense, scoring the area for any sign of the knight, your met with nothing, but you dont relent, you push on seeking anything that had a living pulse.

And what a surprise you almost scan over them at first, it was such a vague, almost invisible aura, it was far too weak to be that of the Knight or your sister. 

Never the less, with a jolt you recognised them, the huntress and the hollow knight had survived the ordeal, both weak, life force drained and diminished within what was left of the black egg, one can only imagine what state they were in..

You were surprised to find that the demi god had dared enter the void fillled prison to fight alongside their sibling, despite the obvious dangers, but you shouldn't have been, she was a warrior by nature, fierce and unyielding nothing would stop her.

You'd had the luxury of aiding the knight in a cut throat duel against the half-wyrm in kingdom's edge, and even if her aim wasnt to kill them at the time the battle was still very intense.

Yes it was better they didn't fight alone, you just wish it was enough...

Your chest burned with a pain entirely unrelated to the flames feedung on your flesh, you dare say your beyond disappointed, the thought of dancing with anyone else feel somehow unwelcome, blasphemous even.

"Brumm.. Come here my friend" the words came out as a soft whisper, but the servant heard them regardless moving to stand beside your silken sheets as you conjure flames with surprising ease, the pulse of the nightmare king throbs through your exhuasted limbs as the flames writh and dance.

Sparkling viscously as they take the form of the knights struggling siblings writhing in smoke ans destruction, the smallest of course hornet was desperately trying to drag the dying corpse of their sibling, it was a battle she was going to lose, dispite her ceaseless efforts.

"Who are they...?"

The musician asked with detached emotion, this close you could see their glittering red eyes stareing intently at the flames before them, the frost that glazes them made your chest ache.

"They are the vessel's last kin, they are all that's left of them" you fix him with a pleading gaze as his dawned in realization, suddenly focusing more intensely on the two, as if now they were worthy of his attention.

"Mmmmrm...the resemblance is striking... is that all that remains of the old light's prison?" 

"My sister was not as forgiving as the nightmare heart my friend, that devine creature is all that dared stand between her and her fury, before usurped by the ghost! mind your respect musicain"

He flinchs at your outburst, you snapped at him before you even realized it, his comment making your scaleplates rise on the back of your neck as anger ignited in a matter of seconds, but then you swallow it, he was ignorant to the past sins of hollownest beside what little involved your tyrant sister.

"Im sorry master i-" Brumm hesitates, unsure of how to balm his folly, but edge in your voice isn't aimed at him, you can't fully blame someone who was naive to the cruelty of foreign gods "

He had not a clue of the pain the pale king's child suffered in his stead.

once you wondered how big ghost would grow, you couldn't comprehend the fact that they were actually the same age as the vessel your predecessors witnessed the pale king imprison, frozen in the husk of a child much like you.

What the flames depicted showed a creature much larger then you had initially thought a vessel capable, being their sire was the pale king.

Would your dear caretaker have grown to be as large as the pure vessel?

Ghost's aura always exuded such a presence, much more vast then their small frame seemed to be able to contain, It would have been magnificent to behold, to see them in their prime, the towering form fate saw for to rob them of.

But now that would never be, all that was left was to salvage what was left from the ashes.

The ache found its way into your throat and for a moment it was hard to breath, the uge to hack was almost unbearable, a odd feeling it was the urge to cry out in dispair, for the world it would change nothing.

Such times in life as this, it reminds you of the small part of humanity the nightmare failed to rob you of over the centuries.

Beside you brumm fidgets in silence, heavily aware of his thoughtless comment, little does he realize your taking comfort in his company even in silence, the emotional whirlwind is new to you, and your reluctant to face the unknown alone.

"I know you meant nothing by it my friend, there is no need to appologise, might i confide in you Brumm...?"

You say this, because it is truth and he needed to hear it, and inturn the musician physically deflated as the tension rushed from their previously stuff shoulders, and slowly the servant nodded.

"As you wish master.." The musicain replied without hesitation.

"I'm not ready to leave just yet, I..I want to take them with us, if they are willing to come, I want them to join the troupe..."

"Hmm master are your certain that's a fate you want to impose upon those who already carry such a heavy burden?"

The servant asked slowly, regarding you with a carefully blank expression.

You could feel brumm's sharp eyes boring into your shell, but you don't raise your eyes to meet his, you both know your being selfish, but you are also a god and gods are always selfish.

Your eyes narrow as they meet your loyal companions, and dispite it all you smile, you are a parasite, he who comes to claim the life left behind in dying kingdoms, to snuff out the light stubbornly clinging to the roots of decay.

"Yes..." You sigh, and your servant bows without question.

"If you desire it so, I will retrive them from the temple"

You are the symbol of the end.

And if you have your way...

"When the time comes, we shall leave this crumbling husk of a kingdom with both spider and vessel in tow, the nightmare heart wishes it so"

"As you wish master" 

For a split second, brumm appraises you with that look, a quiet sad but appreciative gaze fleeting as it was.

It makes your heart hurt with that odd foreign pang, you find yourself gazing sadly into thin air as the musician vanishes in a puff of smoke.

You allow yourself to lie down, the heaviness of exhaustion digging it's claws into your shell, sleep claims you quickly as the nightmare king beacons you towards his realm, his heavy purr lols you into nothingness, as you dream of smoke and shadows.

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after chap 1 of PO but  
> before chap 2


End file.
